


Late-Night Munchies

by cafephan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AU, First Kiss, Fluff, University, teenage!phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 03:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4506513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafephan/pseuds/cafephan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sleepless nights and overdue hunger result in Dan going for an early breakfast, but leads to a chance encounter in the university dining hall.</p>
<p>( Filling the following prompt: “the cereal dispenser in the dining hall broke while I was getting Froot Loops and now they’re all over the floor and you blame me ” )</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late-Night Munchies

Sometimes, borderline _most_ of the time, Dan had a strong dislike towards university. School and college had been a breeze, and he had remained organised and thoroughly on top of whatever workload was thrown his way. But university? A whole other kettle of fish that he wanted to pour down the sink. A metaphor much weaker than his work ethic.

Lectures lasting longer than his eyes could keep open for, a million and one essays holding the same dreaded due date, causing an everpresent cloud of unpleasantry that followed the boy around, laced with a trait of fatigue, that he couldn’t shake off despite however many naps he allocated himself during his limited free time.

As soon as he lost his final life on Candy Crush, Dan sighed and turned from facing the wall to facing the rest of his pathetically small dorm room, the digital clock beaming the ripe time of two-twenty two in the morning. Another involuntary sleepless night was on the cards, it seemed.

Dan smiled slightly at seeing the time was a repetitive stream of the same number, he had always strived to do so as a child, and a faint wave of childish delight washed over him whenever he managed it, as when he was younger all he had were early nights accompanied by a softly glowing nightlight. Now, he barely slept and was kept up further by the flickering light from the en-suite bathroom that was broken, probably beyond repair.

As the clock ticked onto two-twenty three, he sighed again and cast his gaze over to the desk cramped in the corner of the tiny room, which displayed countless notebooks containing notes of lectures that he had hastily taken after waking up from a nap, that he had promised himself he would learn and revise later. Later had yet to come, and the notes dated back months.

He had yet to make any friends at university, he was on good terms with the other residents in his dorm, sure, but the conversation was always phatic and rarely stretched beyond asking the other to buy more milk. He had always had the problem of keeping himself to himself, and it was something he would change in a heartbeat, but words rarely flowed that kept a conversation going, and he was always left standing awkwardly wishing he was anywhere else.

“Maybe I could beat the queue at breakfast if I went now” Dan pondered into the darkness of his room, and didn’t bother waiting for the answer that would never come. He hopped out of bed, shimmied out of his pyjama bottoms and into his trademark skinny jeans, and threw on a random shirt and jumper combination he found scattered on his floor, then slipped out of the dorm without so much as a second glance.

As he set off for the dining hall which was thankfully not too far from his building, the obvious question popped into his head; would it even be open this early? The canteen staff didn’t usually arrive until five in the morning (Dan often beat them there, but he had never tried this early). But nevertheless, desperate for something to distract him from the pile of overdue essays and projects waiting on his desk, he pressed on to the dining hall, stopping to look at the dimmed dorm buildings as he passed them.

“Lucky bastards” Dan mumbled as he noticed every single bedroom light was off in every building he passed, meaning statistically some if not most of his fellow students were asleep. Oh how he envied them.

Eventually, he was stood outside of the dining hall, but he couldn’t see any lights on inside. Which was great, just his luck. But, determined to seize every possibility, he tried the door handle anyway, which surprisingly turned and allowed him entry. The fact the alarm didn’t sound either was a very good sign. He wasn’t illegally breaking and entering, he could have breakfast in peace. Although the canteen staff wouldn’t have prepared breakfast for that day yet, Dan was more than willing to have yesterday’s, he just needed to silence his stomach. The cold night air had only accentuated his ravenous state.

He was greeted with the sight of a blacked out room as he entered, he had entered through the overspill dining room, so it was only a little trek until the main hall.

The main hall that was dimly lit, with a figure at the front of it, fiddling around with something.

Quickly deducing that the figure was not a burglar (the alarm would have woken everyone in every dorm) Dan, quickly gaining a rush of adrenaline or his hunger was now speaking for him, coughed loudly and anything but subtly to get their attention, but to no avail.

The figure didn’t even seem to acknowledge him as they continued with their task which Dan still couldn’t see. So, he stepped forward and repeated his previous action, to get the same result. He clasped his hands together nervously as he walked the remaining length of the hall, until he was standing beside the figure, who Dan could now see was fiddling with the cereal dispenser.

After a final (not so) subtle cough, the figure jumped, startled, and turned to face Dan hesitantly. Dan struggled to keep his mouth closed as he looked over the boy in front of him, piercing blue eyes contrasting to pale skin, pearly teeth pinching the bottom plump, pink lip.

“Um, is this all there is?” Dan asked, gesturing to the cereal dispenser, clearly getting his answer as all else that offered itself was empty metal trays and a piece of mouldy toast. The boy nodded, shuffling awkwardly as he repositioned his glasses. He looked as restless as Dan, but he pulled the look off much better than Dan did.

“I, um, I think so” the boy answered, his speech almost broken as he blushed furiously and wiped his eyes.

“Do you mind if I..” Dan trailed off as he turned his gaze to the cereal dispenser, grasping a bowl and spoon as he did so.

The boy, who still had yet to introduce himself, shook his head and pressed down on the dispenser’s lever to continue filling his bowl but nothing came out, only faint sprays of cereal powder that swirled about in the air.

The boy’s blush grew as he pressed down on the lever harder, biting down on his lip with a higher pressure. He did so a few more times, and nothing happened, his bowl still only sported three colourful loops, despite the dispenser being fully stocked.

“This is the problem” he spoke softly, so much so that Dan wouldn’t have heard if he wasn’t concentrating.

“Here, let me try” Dan offered, frustration building inside him. He placed his bowl and spoon down and tried the lever a few times, but the cereal didn’t budge.

“Fuck this” he muttered through gritted teeth as he jumped up, and on the way down put the gravitationally induced pressure onto the lever, which resulted in it breaking off and the cereal pouring through the hole that the lever previously protected.

In a matter of seconds, every single piece of cereal had pooled around their feet, a beautiful mixture of colour and internal preservatives, and Dan would be lying if he said he would be above eating it.

“Why did you do that?” the boy asked from beside Dan, voice louder and slightly more aggravated, a polar opposite to how he was mere seconds ago. Where he had gotten a sudden confidence boost from Dan had no clue, but he wanted to know for future reference.

“Because I wanted cereal, why else do you think would I do that?” Dan quipped, internally scolding himself for allowing his comebacks to have stooped so low, especially when used on a stranger.

“I was in the process of fixing it, and now you’ve just gone and broken it!” the boy shouted, pointing from the cereal dispenser down towards the pile of cereal still at their feet. Despite his outburst, his blush was still present, jumper pulled over his balled fists. He looked the opposite of intimidating.

“You weren’t doing anything! The thing is probably older than my grandma and I say good riddance” Dan replied, calming himself by the end of the response.

The boy seemed temporarily taken aback, and turned on his heels and began heading for the door. “I say good riddance to you, grandpa, goodbye and thanks for making me starve” he smiled sarcastically behind his shoulder and Dan fought the urge to flick him off. How had the shy boy turned into an absolute asshole in the space of a couple of minutes?

Although his better judgment was screaming that it was in fact Dan’s fault, and he made the other boy lose his cool when it could have been avoided wholly. He didn’t seem the temperamental type to blow up at anything.

“Oh for fuck’s sake” he mumbled to himself as he looked down at the cereal then after the boy who had now left the dining hall, and into the night.

Dan had started running after him. For a reason he didn’t really know.

He could see a figure getting further and further away from the dining hall, and after a quick glance in every other direction and finding nothing, he ran after the figure and stopped a few steps behind them.

“I’m not to blame for this!” Dan exclaimed, adamant to prove his point.

The boy tensed and stopped in his tracks, then turned around, folding his arms across his chest.

“You’re trying to say it’s my fault?” he pointed a finger towards himself, and looked in disbelief at the now flustered Dan, who idiotically nodded.

“I’m not the one who thought I was the Hulk and that everything can be solved with force” he continued calmly, monotone voice and expression deadpan. Dan resisted the urge to crack up laughing at the boy’s attempt at an insult.

“Okay, listen here…” Dan trailed off and rolled his wrist in a circular motion, a prompt for the boy to tell Dan his name.

“Phil” the boy answered, pressing his lips into a fine line.

“Listen here, _Philip,”_ Dan extended Phil’s name in an attempt to get under his skin because that’s just the kind of person Dan is, “I was just speeding up what you were going to do in the end anyway. You should be thanking me, I saved you precious minutes if not hours”

Phil laughed, his expression somewhat brightening as he did so, evidently he had cooled off already. “You sacrificed my cereal and early breakfast. I haven’t eaten since yesterday evening” he informed Dan, and it did strike a hint of guilt and regret in the brunet.

“Same, to be honest. How about I make it up to you? I’ll buy you a box of cereal from the shop just down the street” Dan offered, hoping he wasn’t coming on too strong. Phil could potentially end up being Dan’s first proper friend at university, despite everything, and he didn’t want to jeopardise the chance. 

“I choose the cereal, right? I’m not having any of the home brand, knock off stuff, you owe me” Phil compromised with a raised eyebrow, and Dan shrugged, not really caring either way.

“Let’s go then, _Daniel”_ Phil spoke in a low voice as he walked past Dan in the general direction of the campus gates, leaving Dan with multiple questions whizzing around his mind. Was Phil just flirting? Was he speaking in a sultry voice just then? But one thing was for sure, Dan had no idea when he told Phil his name. But the fact he didn’t seem mad anymore cancelled out every other thought Dan had, he was determined to stay on Phil’s good side.

\--

They arrived at the local shop a few minutes later, the colourful boxes blurred by the frosted glass of the windows and door, enticing the two boys more than they probably should. Almost propelled by their hunger, they walked single file to the cereal aisle.

Dan smiled at the cashier as they entered, and the woman simply looked at him bewildered as to why two sober students were in the shop at just past three in the morning, but soon turned her attention back to the magazine on the counter in front of her, lazily flicking through the pages in an uninterested manner.

Dan turned his attention back to Phil, who was looking at all the cereal options far too eagerly and running his finger across each box absentmindedly as his gaze passed them. All in all, he was taking great pleasure in the fact that he could have any box of cereal he wanted for free, and was contemplating every possible option, whilst Dan stood (im)patiently waiting.

“Okay I’ve chosen!” Phil piped up a few minutes later, bringing Dan back into reality following his daze of studying the gossip magazines stacked on the shelf opposite them and engrossed in the front page articles they trumpeted. Phil held out a box of Froot Loops with a wide smile and then shoved them into Dan’s chest.

“How noble of you” Dan joked as he kept hold of the box but dug out the loose change he had in his pocket with his free hand.

Phil simply shrugged. “Consider it making up for lost time” he commented wistfully as he made his way to the tills, the cashier seeming much too eager to have some custom.

“Late night munchies?” she asked cheerfully, and Dan laughed nervously whilst Phil stayed silent, taking in all of the discounted delights that were for sale near the entrance.

“Our dispenser broke so we’re having to take drastic measures” Dan replied and the cashier laughed as she scanned the cereal and took the money. There was no hiding the slight smirk that Dan wore due to being able to speak a functioning sentence on next to no sleep on top of his general awkwardness, he normally came across as quite standoffish to strangers.

After the cashier bid the two boys goodnight, they began their slow walk back to campus, chatting idly. When they reached the campus gates, Phil stopped dead in his tracks.

“Where are we going to eat it?” he asked, and Dan couldn’t stop himself cracking up into laughter, earning only a confused side glance from Phil.

“I do believe there is a specified room for it, and I do believe we were there not too long ago” Dan replied, and Phil brought a hand to the side of his head and smacked softly.

“Of course, of course. I’m such an idiot when I’ve had no sleep, I’m sorry. But yeah, let’s- let’s go” he stuttered as he began briskly walking in the direction of the dining hall, but what concerned Dan was why he found it so adorable.

\--

“It’s locked” Phil informed as he pressed down on the door handle to the dining hall, looking slightly perplexed yet still managing a firm pout.

“Let me try” Dan stated, but Phil batted his hand away from the handle before he had a chance.

“Not after what happened last time. The security guard obviously came and closed it whilst we were out. That or they’re inside privately investigating the mystery of the cereal dispenser and the spilled Froot Loops” Phil laughed at his own joke, and his laugh was so infectious that it resulted in Dan doing the same, which made the cereal in his arms rattle around in the box.

“I suppose it’d be the gentlemanly thing to do to offer my dorm considering the whole thing was kind of my fault” Dan spoke quietly, but Phil raised an eyebrow.

“It was all your fault. But it’s resulted in me getting a free box that is probably in date unlike those in the dispenser so it’s not all bad. Plus, you’re pretty okay too. But yes, to your dorm we go” Phil raised an arm in an ‘after you’ gesture, to which Dan nodded and began leading the way to his tiny dorm. If any of his dormmates happened to be awake and would see Dan going into his room with a guy, questions would be asked, but that was quite frankly one of the last things on his mind. Besides, being rumoured as sleeping with Phil wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

The dorm was still as silent as Dan had left it, and they both strolled into Dan’s room silently.

“Nice place you’ve got here” Phil commented as he marvelled at the posters taped to the wall and various ornaments placed wherever there was room.

“Yeah yeah, I’m a nerd, I know. Get over it” Dan defended himself, slipping off his jacket and throwing the box of cereal onto the bed beside Phil.

“So am I, we actually have a lot of the same stuff” Phil smiled as he flicked through Dan’s collection of CDs and records, after spotting them and asking for permission. Dan agreed, his attention solely on the cereal.

“It’ll have to be dry and out of the box” he informed Phil, feeling a little embarrassed that the communal dorm kitchen had no bowls or plates, and certainly no milk. It was the laziest dorm member’s turn to fetch it, so they would be waiting for days.

“Best way” Phil grinned as he opened the box and the bag inside, pouring a handful of Froot Loops into Dan’s hands and then his own.

They sat beside each other on the small bed, knees knocking due to both being a similar tall height and having long, lanky legs and munching on the cereal happily, gradually silencing the stomach rumbles that had previously interrupted them both frequently when trying to speak.

They both finished their handfuls of cereal at roughly the same time, and both set to get more, but their hands brushed, eliciting blushes on both sets of cheeks and both hands to withdraw quickly. They both chuckled to themselves and shook their heads, and a few seconds later both had more cereal in their hands and were on their second course.

“I’m sorry I was such an asshole when we first met,” Phil broke the silence, his tone carrying guilt, “I just turn into a bit of a demon when I don’t have any food in me. It’s only worsened when I’m sleep deprived”

“Don’t worry about it” Dan waved Phil’s worries off, causing the other boy to smile.

“It’s getting late, or early, one of the two,” Phil noted as the sky was beginning to break from twilight and brighten into early morning, “I should probably go”

“You may as well stay here, get a few hours before your lecture. I’ll go sleep on the sofa outside until the others wake up” Dan got up and placed the cereal box on his desk and set for the door, but a ‘wait’ from Phil stopped him.

“I’d feel bad if you did that. You can stay too, it’s not a big deal” Phil shrugged, and looked at Dan expectedly.

“Um, sure, if you want” Dan tried to keep his voice as steady as possible, as the very idea of sleeping in the same bed as Phil made him quite dizzy, despite only knowing him for a few hours.

It took a fair few minutes for the boys to manoeuvre themselves comfortably in the tiny bed that barely fit Dan alone. The end result was them being face to face and their legs having to be somewhat tangled together. None of them complained about it, and a pleasant silence fell over them as they both attempted to get some sleep for the first time in days.

“Dan? Are you awake?” Phil whispered around a half hour later, warm breath fanning Dan’s voice as he spoke.

“Yeah” he replied, although it came out as more of a groan, as he was in the state of halfway between awake and asleep. It was the fastest and easiest he’d drifted off since he started university.

“I just wanted to thank you for everything, I think you’re really great” Phil continued to whisper, and Dan hoped that Phil couldn’t see the wide smile that had grown on his lips, he was definitely awake now.

“I think you’re really great too, thankyou for breaking the cereal dispenser” Dan whispered, and he felt Phil softly hit his arm under the covers, and giggle quietly.

“I didn’t break it, I was fixing it!” Phil insisted, managing intonation even through a whisper. It made Dan smile wider, and he kicked Phil’s ankle gently and mumbled a ‘sure’.

“But you’re welcome” Phil added as he snuggled further into the pillow and mattress, wrapping more of the king sized duvet around him. Dan did the same, as the duvet was big enough to cover a whole village, there was plenty going spare.

“Dan?” Phil whispered again, and Dan couldn’t help but laugh silently to himself. He wasn’t annoyed at Phil at all for the whispered interruptions, he was purely intrigued as to what he had to say, he was pretty sure he could listen to Phil forever.

“You’re really pretty, I’m glad I met you” Phil told him, and Dan felt his cheeks heat up, it was inevitable. He needed to handle the situation carefully, not burst into reciprocity straight away, which was what his gut instinct was.

“You’re really pretty too, thankyou again for breaking the cereal dispenser” Dan replied, a smirk replacing the smile as he heard Phil huff jokingly beside him, and felt another soft hit on his arm.

“I’m not going through this again, I was fixing it” he insisted, and Dan patted Phil’s head, to which Phil swatted his hand away almost immediately, proving a difficulty in pitch darkness, the bathroom light had shockingly stayed off for a while.

“But Dan, can I ask you something?” Phil asked a few seconds later, a quieter whisper than before, barely audible.

“Of course” Dan prompted as he laid still, waiting for the question.

“C-can I kiss you?” Phil asked quickly, words coming out in a flurry.

Dan’s cheeks were practically on fire, and he had to clear his throat before answering. He wanted the moment to be crystal clear and as good as they could make it. He would never waste a sleepless night in his dorm again.

“I’d like that a lot” he replied with a smile, and he heard Phil suck in a breath. Hopefully Phil was just as nervous. Dan hadn’t had a lot of experience in the past so he wasn’t exactly the best.

He waited for Phil’s lead, and in the meantime flicked his gaze around the room, trying to focus on an object, anything, but everything looked the same, just pitch black. He didn’t have to try to be distracted for long, however.

He felt something on his lips, but it wasn’t Phil’s lips.

“What are you-“ he was cut off by Phil shushing him.

“I’m just finding your lips. By the way, it feels weird to have someone talking onto your finger” Phil going off on a tangent made Dan chuckle lightly, but only for a short while as mere seconds later Phil’s lips were on his. Well, on half of his lips, Phil’s aim obviously wasn’t the best as he missed where his finger was completely.

“Well this is romantic, I can barely tell you’re there” Dan mumbled jokingly, and Phil pulled away, but still remained close.

“I’m, um, I’m not too good at the whole kissing thing. I kind of went out on a whim” he explained, and Dan nodded in understanding, even though there wasn’t a huge chance that Phil had seen.

“Would it be easier with the light on? Clearly we’re not pro enough yet to aim in the dark” Dan asked as he reached blindly into the dark behind him in search of the cord to his desk lamp.

“Yet?” Phil repeated, but Dan didn’t reply as his embarrassment at his wording simply wouldn’t let him.

Thankfully, his clumsiness didn’t get in the way, as he found the cord quickly and wasted no time in pulling it, causing light to spill out across the room.

He turned back to face Phil, who was still laid on the pillow, beaming widely, snuggled into the duvet. He soon untucked himself and propped himself up on his elbow. Not knowing what to do with his arms, Dan tucked them back under the duvet, so only his head was poking out.

Phil laughed slightly at Dan’s current arrangement, but rolled his eyes playfully and leaned in slowly, aiming perfectly this time and placed his lips onto Dan’s, and they moved with perfect synchronicity. The inexperience shared between the two proven irrelevant.

When the kiss ended (it felt like far too quickly) Phil fell onto his back but soon leaned onto his side to face Dan, still beaming.

“Thankyou so much for breaking the cereal dispenser” he whispered, a playful glint in his eyes.

“I didn’t break it, I was fixing it” Dan replied, imitating Phil from not long ago.

“You definitely broke it” Phil quipped, and Dan rolled his eyes.

“But you’re so thankful that I did” Dan shot back, raising an eyebrow as Phil blushed.

“Beside the point” he mumbled, and pulled the duvet above his nose, so only his eyes were on show, blush effectively hidden.

“But so am I, so you’re good” Dan grinned as he pulled the duvet back down below Phil’s chin and initiated the second kiss, which they both fell into almost instantaneously.

When the kiss ended, and they pulled apart smiling, Dan switched the lamp back off and they both snuggled back into the bed (as best they could).

“Dan” Phil whispered, causing Dan’s smile to widen.

“Yes, Phil” Dan replied, awaiting Phil’s next outburst.

“I’m glad we have breakfast sorted” he stated before pressing a swift (perfectly aimed) kiss to Dan’s lips and turning to face the wall, giggling to himself.

“Such a nerd” Dan said to himself as he closed his eyes and listened on as Phil drifted slowly to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fic! I wrote it purely to get back into the writing mindset as I hadn't uploaded in a while, so it is by no means one of my best fics, but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless, please let me know what you thought :)
> 
> Phanfiction blog; cafephan.tumblr.com
> 
> Twitter; @HoppipHowell (please follow and chat to me i'm so alone)
> 
> Thankyou for your ongoing support, it means the world and more to me xx


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